Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s team will assemble in Fort Lauderdale on Monday evening for a two-day training camp ahead of Wednesday’s friendly international against Canada at the Central Broward Regional Park which kicks off at 7pm.
The team, led by interim head coach Hutson Charles, will be playing its first friend since a 4-0 win over Antigua earlier this year. Canada, coached by Trinidadian-born coach Stephen Hart, are currently preparing for the remainder of their 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
With Kenwyne Jones out of the game due to club commitments, T&T’s scoring hopes will lie on Slovak-based forward Lester Peltier who notched a hattrick over Barbados in a World Cup qualifying match last year.
US-based striker Darryl Roberts will also be looking to make an impression after missing out on T&T’s closing matches against Guyana last year due to injury. Defence Force strike duo Devorn Jorsling and Richard Roy are also in the squad.
Peltier was named Fans “Player of the Month” for his club after scoring one goal and having three assists for ŠK Slovan Bratislava. The former San Juan Jabloteh player is hoping to add to his international tally against Canada.
“It’s a good match for us. Any game against a decent CONCACAF opponent is valuable for us at this stage despite the fact that we are out of the 2014 qualifiers,” Peltier said.
“We have the Digicel Caribbean Cup coming up and we have to be ready to go into that tournament with a chance of winning it. And then we need to go to the Gold Cup and face up well against the rest of Concacaf.”
Peltier said he was in good form at the moment and thankful for being injury free.
“Things have gone very well for me since I arrived at Slovan. The players have been good and I’m enjoying my football here. I hope that I can stay in form and keep on getting better as a player and helping the club improve its status in Europe.
I’ve been anticipating a chance to play for the national team because obviously I’m disappointed to be out of the World Cup but we still have a lot of things to try and achieve on the international stage,” Peltier added.
Charles will have to do without the services of Racing Genk midfielder Khaleem Hyland due to club commitments. US-based midfielder and former Under 20 team captain Leston Paul has been invited as his replacement.
The other overseas pros set to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Monday include Hughtun Hector (Vietnam), Kevin Molino (USA), Roberts (USA), Keon Daniel (USA) and Carlyle Mitchell (USA).
The home-based pros in the squad include Kareem Moses, Clyde Leon, Devorn Jorsling, Seon Power, Richard Roy, Rodell Elcock, Daneil Cyrus, Joevin Jones, Jan Michael Williams, Cleon John and Curtis Gonzales.
Canada announced its 18-man roster which features a number of Canada’s North American-based players, a selection of European-based players and four new call-ups to the Canadian team. Also included is Mitchell’s Whitecaps teammate Russell Teibert.